


inhale, exhale

by emilove



Series: old scraps [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, POV First Person, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 11:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilove/pseuds/emilove
Summary: He never seemed all that happy.I wasn't sure I could blame him for that, though. It wasn't his fault that the world had gone to shit, that we were forced to abandon our past lives in favor of running away.





	inhale, exhale

I knew he was breathing. 

His chest kept rising and falling, evenly, easily. His eyes fluttered every once and a while, the tell sign of him dreaming. Sometimes his fingers twitched and his nose scrunched up - the one signal I used to have about his distaste. He never moved around this time of night. His body would always lie still, flat on the hard, blow-up mattress.

Sometimes he would shiver.

I had once heard him tell me that your body temperature lowered when sleeping, and at the time I had called it bullshit. Still, he would lend me his thin jacket to sleep with, and I took it because even if it didn't make me feel any warmer outside it was the thought that counted.

He never seemed all that happy.

I wasn't sure I could blame him for that, though. It wasn't his fault that the world had gone to shit, that we were forced to abandon our past lives in favor of running away.

He probably thought that he was running away from them again.

Sometimes I saw something strange when he looked over at me. His eyes would seem cold, more so than the nights we'd spend in caves for our camp, and his body would be tense. When he looked at me like that it was always brief, so quick that I could try to ignore it, but I could never forget that it had been there.

When he looked at me like this, I got the impression that maybe he didn't like me. That I was nothing more than something to help keep him sane.

After all, even if I knew he was breathing, I wasn't sure he was alive.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old drabble I wrote almost two years ago for a timed write based on a random prompt. There isn't really any plot to this, and no perspective is specified because I never had any character in mind while writing (hence the lack of names and first person POV), so this can be interpreted however you'd like. I personally see this as being from Naruto's perspective in a divergence where he and Sasuke are on the run. 
> 
> Comments are lovely! I know this isn't much, but I appreciate feedback regardless!


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